Thursday, September 24, 2009

Maximum sea level

Several people have inquired about houses built on stilts in Cedar Key. As noted, quite often the most severe damage suffered during a hurricane is not from wind but from storm surge.

Water surging ashore can reach quite high levels. Thus, on the beach at Cedar Key, just in front of the condos shown in yesterday's post, is a pole showing maximum sea levels. Note, at the present time it tops out at 12 feet. If a storm surge approaches 12 feet, everything under 12 feet is likely to be washed away or severely damaged.

In many coastal communities, structures are now required to be built on stilts to allow from a maximum storm surge to flow under and through the building.

This photo and yesterday's photo were taken by Lois Anne using a Nikon D40.

With the sudden changes in weather you seem to get there I'm not surprised this is necessary. Twelve feet of water coming at you is probably a pretty scary sight.P.S. Nice work with the D40 Lois Anne. We absolutely love ours.